1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a control box for electrical actuators, preferably for adjustable articles of furniture.
2. The Prior Art
In furniture, e.g., actuators are used for causing the adjusting of the article of furniture. It may, e.g., be the adjustment of the support face for a mattress in a bed, the backrest of a chair, height adjustment of tables, etc.
The actuator or actuators is/are connected by a cable to a control box, which contains control electronics, a power supply connected to the mains, and optionally a battery pack consisting of rechargeable batteries or a floating battery. The control box also has connections for at least one hand-set and optionally additional control panels. Examples of hospital beds are described in EP 488 552 to J. Nesbit Evans & Co. Ltd. as well as in we 01/47340 to Hill-Rom Services, Inc.
An example of such a control box is shown in FIG. 1. It is a control box from LINAK A/S having the type designation CB12. The control box consists of a cabinet 1 with a lower part 2 containing a control printed circuit board and provided with a row of gates 3 perpendicularly from the lower part for various plugs. An upper part 4, divided into two compartments 5, 6, is secured to the lower part 1 by screws, where a transformer for the power supply is arranged in the one compartment 5, and a battery pack is arranged in the other compartment 6.
The control box is excellent, except that it is constructed rigidly, i.e., it must be determined from the beginning whether it is to be dedicated to a specific purpose, or whether a standard version is to be made, which is overdimensioned in certain cases. In addition, the box takes up disproportionately much space.
The object of the invention is to provide a more flexible configuration of the control box thus known.